themothmanfandomcom-20200214-history
Merle Partridge's Mothman Sighting
Merle Partridge's sighting is said to have taken place in Salem, West Virginia. Its located about 90 to 100 or more miles northward of Point Pleasant. There are conflicting reports on the date. Its either November 13th 1966, November 14th 1966 or November 15th 1966. It was reported after the Scarberry and Mallette sighting was published in the newspapers. Contractor Merle Partridge,'' or Newell Partridge as hes sometimes called as an alias in books and newspapers, was watching television at his home one evening when he had an experience with a set of strange glowing red lights or "eyes" in his fields. It was about 10:30 that night and suddenly the TV blanked out. A real fine herringbone pattern appeared on the television and at the same time the set started a loud high pitch whining noise. It sounded like a generator winding up. The dog was sitting on the end of the porch, howling down towards the hay barn. The dogs behavior that night was described as strange, he was acting up as if he saw something. Partridge grabbed his 8 millimeter shotgun and walked out onto the porch. He saw moving circular red lights in the distance. His dog, Bandit, ran off toward the fields and disappeared, never to be seen again. The next day when Merle went walking out to the barn to look for his dog, he found only paw prints."Here and there I could see Bandit's paw prints. These were rather easy to find, for he was a heavy dog and the area was muddy". At the approximate position of where the red lights had been, he found dog tracks going around in a circle but not leading off anywhere. There were no other tracks of any kind. He searched for his trusted companion in the weeks following the sighting but never found his dog. There has been no explanation to this day for what exactly happened to the dog after he dashed out into the field. Weeks after the incident, Partridge told friends and family that he would not be surprised if he were to sometime find the dead body of Bandit nearby. Two couples then famously claimed to see red eyes in The TNT Area near Point Pleasant. The Scarberry and Mallette couples also said that they saw a dead dog by the side of the road that was gone less than an hour later. Merle Partridge reported his sighting to Sheriff George Johnson and said that when he aimed a flashlight in the nearby field, the eyes would light up "like bicycle reflectors". Merle believed that the buzzing noises from his television set that night and the disappearance of his German Shepherd were related to the Mothman which people had began to report seeing. In interviews, he said that he believed the dog the Scarberry and Mallette couples saw was indeed his because Bandit was very well trained and would have returned back to him otherwise. '''Sources:' "Eight People Say They Saw 'Creature'" Newspaper Article From November 18th 1966 The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel (1975) (Page 72) sighting as "November 14th 1966" The 'Eyes of The Mothman' Documentary sighting as "November 13th 1966" '' Mothman and other curious encounters by Loren Coleman (2002) (Page 41) sighting as "November 15th 1966" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman Category:66-67 Point Pleasant WV MothMan FLAP Category:Mystery